David Green
Personality David is, for the most part, an amiable man. He rarely, if ever, considers a person his enemy. Yet, he gathers animosity up like flies on flypaper, usually through his somewhat underhanded (but still legal) courtroom tactics. Like any good Shadow Lord, David has a healthy disregard for the spirit of the law when they become obstacles to his goals. He will circumvent them, bend them, even change them to suit his needs. But he has rarely been known to simply break them. Calm on the surface, this placidly smiling man manages to put off a certain energy in everything he does. Having an odd sense of personal priorities, David will often divulge the most intimate details of his life to anyone that asks (usually in the form of his sexual kinks or how many hookers he purchased last weekend), though people tend to come away from meetings with him with the sense that they know very little more about the man himself than when they started. While David's motivations for joining and staying at Crystal Springs aren't generally public knowledge, the truth is that he's still trying to find his footing. After losing a good job, a fiancee, and a loving family all in one week, David is a bit unsteady on his feet. So he's been throwing himself into his work, and what /has/ been noted by his coworkers is that he seems to have taken up a crusade for helping Grey Inc acquire as much city property as possible, as well as a few pro bono morality-based cases in his off-time. Public History David Green is known to the local world as a whole, simply, as an effective lawyer with a calm demeanor who, through some blessing of skill or another, has the ability to coerce confessions out of the most tight-lipped witnesses, or to solidify the hairiest of business deals. After having come to Crystal Springs, stating his sole reason as being in response to Nick's call for more Garou, David threw himself into his work with a professional gusto. Since his employment at Grey Inc as head of the Legal department, Grey Inc. has made a number of important acquisitions, both monetarily and spiritually. Parks, historical buildings, even the old graveyard built over the collapsed mine have been bought from the city at a very reasonable price, some bringing special tax-exempt status, due to a small bit of wrangling on the contracts. Recently, David has been traveling out of state, tying up loose ends of business deals, and procuring new contracts for the firm. He should be returning for an extended break very shortly, both to relax and to take some of the paperwork off of Nick's shoulders. David has recently thrown himself back into his work at Grey Inc. with gusto, especially now that Nicholas Grey has taken an extended vacation. Despite getting the work of two Corporate Officers done, he doesn't seem to be any busier than usual. For the Garou, David has taken up Nick's position as the hub of Garou relations until the Don decides to return. Friends and Acquaintances Player Characters [[Nicholas Grey|'Nicholas Grey']] :Nick and David have been acquaintances ever since David first came to Grey Inc. back in early 2008, and they became friends soon after. The two have been known to spend evenings sipping scotch under the oak on the roof of Grey Inc, discussing anything and everything allowed under the umbrella of "guy talk". [[Kennedy Parker|'Kennedy Parker']] :With her job as secretary for Nicholas Grey, David and her have been friends for just as long as he's known her, though not to the level of closeness with Nick. He's made his attraction to her no secret (as with most women), but has stayed far more gentlemanly and restrained around her than usual, for some reason... [[Jocelyn Reynard-Wellington|'Jocelyn Reynard-Wellington']] :An interesting woman who immediately drew David's attention the first moment they met. Since then, the two have developed a certain...interaction. They clearly want each other, but certain circumstances have kept that from coming to full fruition until recently. It's hard to miss these two flirting openly when they're out and about, though they still keep a conservative facade. Non-Player Characters Rachel Olson :Ex-fiancee and David's blood sister. He left Colorado shortly after discovering they were related and cutting off the engagement. She's the past he's trying to forget about. Rita Adams :Editor for the Crystal Springs' Daily News newspaper. An old fling of David's and a very useful contact for him. Sheet Freebies spent (45 total): :+1 Manipulation (5), Talents +5 (10), Skills +3 (6), Knowledges +3 (6) :+6 Willpower (6), Backgrounds +3 (3) :Aura of Confidence (7) :Judicial Ties (2), Political Ties (3), Media Ties (2), Moderate Phobia (-2), Lifesaver (-3), Night Terrors (-2) : Expertises :Skill: Drive: Cars :Skill: Marksmanship: Pistols :Knowledge: Academics: Literature :Knowledge: Linguistics: Latin, French, Italian, Japanese Specialties Manipulation :Glib: Everything David does seems to come with an offhanded ease, which can often be unsettling and even perturbing to the people he's interacting with. Wits :One Step Ahead: David's strongest asset, beyond his tendency to keep a contingency for every situation, is to be able to whip out the appropriate contingency plan as if it was Plan A all along, giving him the impression of a person who can predict what decision you will make, and who will have a 25-page document in response for you to sign. Talent: Persuasion :Fast-Talk: One of the tricks David picked up early on was the idea that people, by and large, cannot handle large amounts of information at once. If you hit them hard enough and fast enough, all minds will eventually shut down their skepticism and start feebly agreeing with whatever you suggest to them, be it anywhere from "Now you see why Creationism should be taught in classrooms?" to "Sign here, it's for the best, trust me." Talent: Subterfuge :We're On The Same Side: In a trial, it's the job of a lawyer to find out what the jury is sympathetic to, and painting his client's case in that positive light, while seeming as sincere as possible. David has the knack, after talking with someone for long enough, to be able to convince them that, no really, he wants the same thing they do. And, I'm being completely honest here, signing this paper is the only way for us to get what we need. Skill: Research :Law: Ever since college, David has been collecting all manner of books on law. It started with textbooks and the occasional court transcript, and has blossomed out to an alphabetized and organized collection of every court transcript in America that he could get his hands on, as well as paper copies of every Federal and Colorado State statute on records, among many other types. His collection used to be bigger at one point, until he made the wise decision of starting to collect electronic copies of the less used material: Legal statues and precedents from all the other 49 states can be found on his laptop and assorted backup media. Currently, his collection is stored in his office at Grey Inc, covering every available wall surface. David knows it well. Knowledge: Law :Property Law: David's experience with Harrison & Stork has given him the edge on property law, along with any tactics or procedures used to acquire property for the Shadow Lords and to keep undesirables (like any Vampires) out, at least within the bounds of human law. Backgrounds Background: Contacts :Most of David's contacts lie within the judicial and political systems of Colorado. His time spent in Denver was often filled with dinner, meetings, parties, all kinds of social get togethers that have given him a modest net of resources at his disposal. Background: Influence :Favors, friendship, and willing ears among the political elite make up the level of power David has in the political sphere. Still, he prefers to stay behind the throne. While not often sought out personally, there are a number of politicians who David has worked with in the past who value his input and point of view. Background: Resources :It's hard to be a successful lawyer and not come into quite a bit of money. At the moment, David is living out of his suitcase, having not had a chance to settle down. He has booked a room at the nearest hotel at Grey Inc. into the foreseeable future, but often takes advantage of the living quarters in Grey Inc. during all nighters. Merits ;Merit: Judicial Ties :Through his time in law school and his career as a lawyer, David has developed many friends and gathered up quite a large phone book of names and numbers. He's been trading favors ever since he took his first job at a law firm in a neighboring state, and some of those favors are owed to him by formidable figures in the Colorado Justice Department. ;Merit: Political Ties : Where there are lawyers, there are lobbyists. Where there are lobbyists, there are politicians. David has been able to sit in on expensive dinners with Senators and mayoral staff and that, along with a few dalliances with some of the right people, has given him access to many sympathetic ears. ;Merit: Media Ties :David certainly gets around, doesn't he? Having had many of the political elite as his clients (and having helped spread rumors that he is the secret power behind at least one throne), David has a few names in the Colorado media who, when he sends them an anonymous tip, will listen very closely. ;Merit: Iron Will :During his time in Denver, while going to college, David was also getting education of another type. The Shadow Lords of Denver took him aside and gave him training in how to withstand the very hard-to-resist abilities of the local vampire population, who they often butted heads with in their regular dealings. While also being remarkably stubborn and self-possessed on his own, the training has made David a formidable opponent to anyone who would attempt to exert their will on his mind. Flaws Flaw: Moderate Phobia : Clourophobia :When David was a young boy, he wandered in one his mother and father engaged in sexual congress. With his mother wearing a horrifying (to him) clown mask. The frightening, unfamiliar sounds of it all, the unnatural state he found his parents in, all followed by the screams of mixed panic and anger from his parents (especially the screams of his mother from behind that mask)...well, needless to say, it stuck with David. Since then, every time he sees a clown, those emotions of helplessness and terror come sweeping back. When he was a young teenager (before his First Change) and was caught by surprise by a street performer dressed like a clown, he immediately wet himself in fear. Now, as an adult, the fear is just as crippling and, when forced to interact with a clown or possibly even view a painting of a clown, David will, at best, have to spend willpower to keep his cool. At worst, he may lose his ability to form coherent sentences, react rationally, or control his bladder. Flaw: Lifesaver :From the very beginning, David found he could never tolerate senseless death. While he's learned to treat the death of all Wyrmcreatures as necessary and desirable, it's the death of even the lowliest humans that he can't abide. David takes great pride in having never taken an innocent life with his own hands, and is a very vocal opponent of the death penalty. This passion for the sanctity of life has done more to motivate him to take criminal cases, both prosecution and defense, than anything else. If confronted with a murderer, David will cry out for his punishment, with all his heart. Flaw: Nightmares :When David was a young child, he suffered from night terrors. While he never was able to recall what the night terrors were about, they got bad enough that they triggered a case of somnoambulance (sleepwalking) in which he would use all his means to try and escape the terrors while still "asleep". With the onset of adolescence they suddenly stopped, though he never figured out why. Who knows when they'll resurface... Advancement ; Current +learn * Name: Linguistics 4 * From: Self * Approved By: Weaver for 11/24/10 * Amazing how, when you take the time to know a good number of languages, the rest seem to come easily, eh? David is expanding his broad, basic knowledge of languages to add more fluency to his speech. Particularly in Spanish, German, Russian and Mandarin (Chinese). ; Current +learn * Name: Gift: Cold Voice of Reason * From: Jericho * Approved By: Weaver for 11/23/10 * For Jericho's chiminage. Because making David's speech even more powerful couldn't possibly backfire. ; Current +learn (since 11-19-09) * Name: * From: * Approved By: * ; Advancement History * Appearance 3, to Rommy: 01/27/10 * Merit: Iron Will, from self: 07/22/2010 * Knowledge: Linguistics 3, from self: 01/16/2010 History Pre-Change David was adopted as an infant by a patent attorney and a chemical engineer in an expensive condominium in downtown Boulder. He was sent to montessori preschools, private kindergartens, and a prestigious high school. From a young age, David was managing to talk classmates into giving him their brownies and juice boxes. In grade school, he excelled in his debate teams. In high school, he excelled as well and got beat up for it. First Change At the age of 16, his girlfriend, Rachel Olson, introduced him to 'felching'. He didn't like it. A /lot/. But, by a stroke of luck Rachel turned out to be a clued kinfolk with kinfolk parents who were very understanding of a boy destroying their little girl's bedroom. And her pet hamster. Cubhood Entering the Garou world as a Lost Cub, David was snatched up by the small cadre of Shadow Lords living in Denver, for the purpose of keeping close political and judicial ties in city with the Sept of Fire and Ice. Pulling a few strings within the school district, they supposedly set him up in a small boarding school at the other end of town for "remedial education", using his poor grades just prior to his First Change as an excuse to his parents. In reality, David lived out the next few months at a lawyer's office where the local chapter of Thunder's Children resided, as well as where Rachel's father worked. There, his relationship with Rachel deepened, both of them often sneaking away to broom closets when the elders and her father weren't looking for not-so-discreet trysts. It wasn't long before David was growing bored of the relatively simply complexities of Garou life, however, and found himself actually longing for real work to do, which will be a surprise for any teenager. Near the tail end of his cubhood, he was spending a few hours each week helping Rachel's father with paperwork, just to alleviate the boredom. Rite of Passage David's Rite of Passage was to deliver a message to a the Sept of Heavy Rains, a Black Fury Sept that was just out of state. Taking a train most of the way there, the cityslicker cub had to trudge his way into the forest Sept in lupus, his least favorite form. He spend the first day wandering nearly aimlessly, trying to follow a trail of scents that seemed to lead him in circles. The first sign that he was in the right place was when the Ahroun Warder of the Sept leapt out at him, snarling that her ~Identify yourself or perish!~ Poor guy almost wet himself right then and there. After mollifying the Warder with a few quick words, David was led away to meet the Alpha: A /very/ attractive Fury ragabash Adren. David's delivery didn't go so well at first, as the first words out of his mouth were, "My god...and I thought Amazons only had one breast." At that point, the only thing that saved the uppity Urrah from having his balls removed by the already irritable Furies was the Alpha's sense of humor and very quick submission and a little fasttalk from David. In the end, the message was delivered properly, though not without a little grumbling and glaring from the other elders of the Sept. Bewildered and more than a little frustrated by his failure to be a proper diplomat, David returns to Denver in a sullen mood. The first thing the Rite master says to him when he returns is, "Oh, you're alive? Well then, you pass." Apparently the Shadow Lords had planned out he meeting, discussing methods to cause the wards around the Sept to get David turned around, and they also started passing around nasty rumors about him through their contacts in the Fury Sept. Finally accepted fully into the Shadow Lord tribe, David was given the Rite-name Turns-Away-The-Fury. Cliathhood As a cliath, David took advice from Rachel's father and returned to high school. His parents, having gotten over the disappointment of having a 'special ed' child, were happy for him to come home. Having learned to control his Rage, and even find outlets for it, David settled into his classes once more, and even managed to finish off his junior and senior year with high marks. Enough to get him into the University of Colorado at Boulder, into the Pre-Law program, alongside his high school sweetheart Rachel, who began to pursue a chemsitry degree. Ever since his First Change, David had slowly been growing steadily more distant from his adoptive parents and, while they did not particularly approve of his choice of friends (particularly Rachel), they began to take a very 'hands-off' approach with him, beginning with college. In college, David found an interesting balance to his new life. While still indoctrinated and surrounded by the values of his Shadow Lord brethren, and the dark-tinted lenses that come with the knowledge of the Triat and the inherent danger in simply existing as a Garou, the ragabash found that the atmosphere of the university was freeing, in comparison to the heavily conservative viewpoints of his parents. During his sophomore year, he almost failed out of college due to losing himself to the experimentation that he and Rachel fell into, together. By his senior year, however, he had pulled himself up by the seat of his pants and made the Dean's List, as well as having spent countless hours doing work for the GBLTQ committee, the Young Democrats, and having held a Senate and Vice Presidential position in the Student Government. Fostern Challenge Coming out of college, David approached his small Garou family a few days after graduation, and challenged the Beta of the group for the rank of Fostern. Mildly annoyed with David's premature ambition, but not enough to flat out turn him down, the Beta gave David this challenge: "Discover an important secret among out people that no one else currently knows. Then share it with us, in front of the whole Sept at the next moot." This was vague enough that the Beta should be able to claim that any secret David brought forward, that could safely be announced in front of all the elders, he could claim was not "important enough", followed by a farewell of "better luck next time". And David knew it, too. Shadow Lords aren't known for being good sources of gossip. Still, he wanted this, badly. Needed it, because he knew how much the gifts Gaia grants to those of higher rank could be useful to him, in doing his work for the Sept. So he set about generally being sneaky. It took almost the full month of stalking the Sept, as stealthy as he could manage. He followed kin, Garou, even spirits on his quest for that important secret. It wasn't until the week before the moot that he decided, "Important secrets...will be kept by important Garou." And so he took to following the Sept Claw about, a vicious Ahroun with only one eye. He followed him...to the apartment of the Sept Alpha. And watching through the window, he watched the Claw climb into the Alpha's bed with him. Now /that/ is an important secret! At the next moot, David stood before the Sept, mouth dry and fists clenched as fear knotted in his stomach. He was about to out the Claw and the Alpha in front of the whole Sept. When it came time for the announcements, David took hold of the microphone. Turning a hardened gaze out on the elders at their curved table, he spoke of what he saw. The outrage was instantaneous. It took three Ahrouns to subdue the Claw in her frenzy, and the Alpha was screaming nonstop obscenities towards David as he did his best to stand in front of it all, uncaring and emotionless. The whole Sept was rising to an angry clamor (which is discontented muttering among anyone who's not a Shadow Lord), until the Beta stepped forward and announced the terms of the challenge. A half moon was brought forward and...well, it's easy to guess the results of that. After several days of investigation, under a new Alpha and a new Claw, David was given the rank of Fostern and his new name Speaks-The-Uncomfortable-Truth, which is right in line with the Shadow Lord sense of humor. Fosternhood David settled in well to Harrison & Stork, taking up, at first, the task of managing most of the more complex paperwork that went across Mr. Olson's desk. His natural level of organization, and flair for almost instinctually knowing the right form for any occasion, made him quickly into a valuable asset to the company, and soon Mr. Olson was taking him to meetings with him to handle the paperwork. And then he began handling the paperwork and the talking. And then he was going to meetings alone. David's confidence soared. (During this time, in 2004, David had a falling out with his parents after he discovered they had voted for George W. Bush. Again. Their relationship has never quite recovered. As of the present day, David has no idea if they know where he is.) Soon he was taking on cases, first as second chair, then as first chair. Near the end of his stay at Harrison & Stork, he was opening and closing for high profile clients. And then, he found out that his fiancee, Rachel Olson, was pregnant. While initially a source of great joy for David, it didn't take long to realize that the conception date landed square in the middle of a two month long business trip. However, Rachel insisted that David was the father. So he took a paternity test, which led to the following conversation at the doctor's office. :"The good news is, you're not the father." :"...Forgive me doctor, but from where I come from, that wouldn't quite qualify as good news." :"Yes, well, it /is/ good news. Because the bad news is that she's your sister." As it turns out, Mr. and Mrs. Olson had a child before Rachel, but they were in a bad spot. After Baptising the child to make sure it wasn't Garou, they gave it up for adoption. A year and change later, Mr. Olson had found a new job with Harrison & Stork and Mrs. Olson became pregnant with Rachel. As is to be expected, this completely floored David, and he and Rachel broke off their engagement. Her (Their?) parents weren't terribly happy, either, though they were levelheaded enough to not blame David for the mixup. Partially because David was an asset to Harrison & Stork that Mr. Olson knew they didn't want to lose. While struggling to keep his productivity high and his professional life clean, he had the bad luck to represent a client who was being sued by a clown. A clown who insisted on showing up in court in full costume. Preparing himself to cross-examine the witness, David took a deep breath, strode up to the stand and looked the clown in the eye...and promptly had a nervous breakdown, running screaming from the courtroom. Later, he was able to spin the story as resulting from stresses in his personal life (partly true), and segued into his resignation from Harrison & Stork. Seeking a change of venue to get away from the reminders of his ex-fiancee and his embarrassment in court, David picked up on the call to arms in Crystal Springs. Calling up Nicholas Grey, he arranged for an interview at Grey Inc, and set off to the west. Present Day With his history at Harrison & Stork, as well as the burning need the Sept of the Looking Glass had for extra Garou, it was fated fairly from the beginning that David would find a niche there. Since then, he's made several acquaintances and a few friends, as well as looking like he /may/ be making efforts to settle permanently there. In April he was called away to the East Coast on an extended business trip to gather contracts for Grey Inc, as well as finish up paperwork with a few of their business partners. He should be returning any day now... Category:Shadow Lords Category:Ragabashes Category:Fostern Category:Homid Category:Garou Category:Current PCs